The Conference Center - Part 2

My last posting consisted of pictures that contained the exterior, the inner hall, and roof, but I ran out of time to get in the lobby pictures, and include some pictures of the Joseph Smith Building. So today, I am going to finish the Temple Square blogs; let's start, with the art. This picture below is a stained glass piece that is of a very familiar picture to Mormons. The picture does not do it justice, it is illuminated from behind and in dim light, it's gorgeous. Through out the halls of the center, famous art can be found in every direction. There are pedestals of statues on every level.On the second floor, there is an especially neat room. This room contains the busts of all the prophets since the church was founded. They are obviously going to have to sculpt a new bust for President Monson.An adjacent room has a gallery of portraits that contains all the members that have served on the twelve. The current twelve are in a room next to the busts of the prophets; I don't have a picture of that room unfortunately.My favorite room however came at the end of the tour; it was the room that houses all of the original illustrations from "The Book of Mormon". For those who are not aware of these pieces, the church used to publish the "The Book of Mormon" with illustrations in it. These pictures were of the different characters and their struggles through out the book.The illustrator's profile is mounted here on the wall, I took a picture of the plague because there was not enough time to read and look at everything during the tour.If you look closely at the bottom of this piece found below, you will see the part that was cropped out for the book when it was published inside the BOM. I guess they didn't want the dead bodies surrounding the feet of Moroni.The picture below not only appeared in the front of the older publications of "The Book of Mormon", but it also can be found in local chapels foyers all over the world.The picture below was not cropped; I had hoped that they had cropped this one too, and that all the arms would be at his feet. :-) Sick, I know!
This is another piece that appeared in the older publications, and also can be found in local Chapels... Mine included. This illustration depicts Christ visiting the Americas after he was resurrected.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Conference Center has live piano music playing. The music melodically echoes throughout the halls and sounds just beautiful. Turns out the players rotate every couple of hours... they come in, play and then leave. They are not compensated, and come to find out, it is like a church calling. It really does set the mood for the peace that can be felt in such a large building. The sounds of fountains also add to the serenity. The fountain can be found on the west side of the building. What is interesting about the placement of the fountain is that there is an opening that allows for the ceiling to extend all the way to the top of the roof, and one of the pyramids of glass that I mentioned earlier sits above the fountain below. There are mirrors on the side walls that extend towards the top of the roof and ceiling.
Below is a picture of one of the original bells from the Nauvoo temple that was burned down by mobs way back during the church's adolescent state.
This is a picture of one of the sets of doors that lead into the main hall. The woodwork is very well kept.Here a few misc. pictures. One is of me in the mirror, another interesting perspective looking down on the fountain, and then a picture of the windows overlooking Temple Square.
This is a shot of the Sky light pyramids that we saw on the roof. This one is the one I mentioned that sits above the fountain.
I forgot to add this picture to the Temple Square blog, it is the actual entrance to the Temple, I always thought that was kind of funny. To finish up the post today, I am going to include a couple of pictures of the lobby inside the Joseph Smith Building. It kind of reminded me of the Emerald City.The picture below was taken just outside the Joseph Smith Building, I really liked it. It is of a mother with her hands placed on her son. There is a lot of symbolism to this statue, at least in my opinion. The youth is being lead by his mother, or guided if you will. As I reflect back on my trip to the church's headquarters, I remember seeing a lot of families touring, a lot of references to the importance of family, and not just our living family, but to our lineage. The church stresses the importance of family in our lives, and I think if any one picture exemplifies this message, it would be of the statue below. Tomorrow is going to be built by our youth... guide them right... raise them well.Until next time; thanks for reading.

JC